Many domestic pets and particularly cats are often kept indoors and require that a suitable litter box or container be available for use by the animal. Animal litter products are generally an absorbent material such as granulated clay particles or vegetable material. Those materials have the advantage of being absorbent and a natural attractant to the animal. Litter boxes, however, have the distinct disadvantage of requiring regular cleaning or changing of the litter material. Litter box also usually result in the emanation of malodors, typically referred to as litter box odors. To prevent odors from emanating throughout the pet owner's house, it is usually necessary to change the litter daily. The burden and expense of daily changing of litter is a major factor in the pet owners failure to routinely change the litter.
In order to minimize the burden and unpleasantness of changing a litter box numerous devices have been developed. These devices include, for example, containers to receive the spent litter and devices to replace the spent litter with fresh litter. Other devices include systems to vent animal waste odors away from the immediate area and systems to mask the odor being Emitted from the litter box. One example of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,026 where a litter box is provided with an enclosure to contain the waste odors. A solid cake of deodorant material is contained within the enclosure to mask the odors by continuously releasing the deodorant.
Another example of a device intended to control animal waste odors is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,989. In this device an enclosure is provided to contain the animal litter and the litter box. An electric powered fan is included within the confines of the enclosure to circulate and distribute a deodorizer from a solid, semisolid or liquid deodorizer. The above-noted devices attempt to control odors primarily by containment and masking of the odors. These devices are deficient in that they do not remove the odors from the air or remove the odor-causing waste material from the litter.
Other devices have been developed to attempt to remove pet odors from the air such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,814. This device includes a housing to enclose a litter box. A fan is mounted in the upper portion of the housing to draw air and odors from the litter box through a screen which is impregnated with an odor absorbing material. Another example of an odor elimination device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,559. The device includes an enclosure which fits on top of a litter box to form a partial cover. The enclosure defines a partial top cover and includes a skirt portion having an air channel. An electric fan is connected to the top cover to draw air from the litter box and vents the air to the outside.
The previous litter devices used heretofore do not adequately remove odors from the litter box or eliminate the release of odors to the room. The previous devices further do not provide a litter box which is able to effectively dry the litter while preventing the release of odors to the room. There is, therefore, a need for a litter box which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and is able to effectively remove and control litter box odors.